Admissions Information

School Overview

School Info

The mission of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University is to prepare graduates to be leaders and role models who define excellence in patient care, medical research, education and health care policy. Their experiences at Columbia will enable them to shape the future and set the standards of medicine in the United States and in the world. Their guided exposure and training will prepare them to exhibit the highest principles of humanism and professionalism in their responsibilities to their patients, to their community and to society.

Curriculum

The Columbia Curriculum is an innovative and flexible curriculum that reorganizes the academic structure of medical education by dispensing with the old designations of first, second, third, and fourth years. Those categories are replaced by three major segments in the restructured curriculum: Fundamentals, Major Clinical Year, and Differentiation & Integration.
This new curriculum takes advantage of the latest knowledge about how adults learn and inspires students to take ownership of their own learning. It fosters a team-based approach, an essential element of medicine today, while at the same time allowing students to explore their individual goals in medicine.

"It was very conversational. Questions weren't probing, they were just continuations of our conversation. The interview covered talking about my research (not down to specifics, more of what I liked about it and learned from it), what I like to do for fun outside of school."
-Posted 01/16/2009 |
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"Wasn't so much a question as a discussion about Frankenstein and Victorian literature! I'd been taking a class on medicine and mystery in 19th century lit, and the interviewer had also read a lot of it."
-Posted 05/18/2010 |
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"The interview was entirely conversational. My interviewer was extremely interesting and our interests coincided so it was quite stress free."
-Posted 02/25/2009 |
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"No interesting quetions...just the questions you'd expect about your interest in medicine, your activities and experiences in college and life in general"
-Posted 11/10/2007 |
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"I was hardly asked any questions. My interviewer spoke for most of the time. I suppose, "are you interested in pursuing geriatric medicine""
-Posted 02/07/2006 |
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"Why did you stay in Texas for three years? (answer: because my master's program took two, and I stuck around to date my eventual wife...the last part got a laugh, becuase he didn't see it coming)"
-Posted 12/07/2005 |
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"none really. I only had about 3 questions. It was more like a conversation. The questions I had weren't even, why do you want to be a doctor or why columbia? It was more about my family and why I chose my undergraduate college."
-Posted 12/07/2005 |
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"Have you read any books about physicians who serve as role models to you? (It wasn't phrased so awkwardly in the interview, but I can't remember how he asked it.)"
-Posted 10/20/2005 |
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"No questions were asked; it was really just a friendly conversation ranging in topic from rubgy to our families to European history to beer-tasting."
-Posted 09/29/2005 |
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"The standard question with a twist:
Him: What would you do if you don't get into medicine?
Me: I'll keep trying until the day God comes down and tells me to stop.
Him: Then what?
Me: (slight pause)
Him: Find a new god."
-Posted 01/27/2005 |
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"Can't remember. Everything was very conversational. He wanted to know about my family. He had read my file very carefully which I appreciated so just discussed various interests. Or I explained my previous job in finance."
-Posted 11/21/2004 |
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"Since you come from a bicultural family, how do you think the different medical views of these cultures have influence you?"
-Posted 11/20/2004 |
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"Im not going to lie here, the interview was only 15 minutes. I was a member of the BALSO invites and we were given breakfast in the morning and had our own interviewer (The Dean of Minority Affaris). She was laid back and wonderful, told me after seeing I played rugby and had high marks that I was "almost guarunteed admission.""
-Posted 11/06/2004 |
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"My transcript looks a little funny because of some seminar courses I've taken in the Classics department, so he asked me a lot about what I learned in those classes"
-Posted 10/19/2004 |
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"The interviewer was really interested in my research work, which includes clinical trials in hypnosis. He had some past experiences with it and talked for a while about that."
-Posted 12/20/2003 |
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"No specific questions were asked, oddly enough. The doctor interviewing me just asked where I was from, a few things about my background, etc. It was more or less a very pleasant conversation."
-Posted 12/16/2003 |
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"A very blunt question about something very specific (and negative) about my application--I was actually happy it was asked, so I could explain myself."
-Posted 12/15/2003 |
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"What kind of music do you like/play? (I'm a musician; I was very pleased that my interviewer and others had an interest in what interests me) "
-Posted 11/21/2003 |
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"i did a minor in architectural art history. he pointed out some buildings in pictures around his office and asked me to identify the style, era, architect, and all that good stuff."
-Posted 11/20/2003 |
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"First off, the physician who interviewed me likes to do closed file interviews. This was my first interview and I thought it was great. Very laid back. The most interesting question she asked me was also the most difficult. See Below "
-Posted 11/20/2003 |
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"The interviewer started talking about his secretary and patients ad nauseum. Given that the interview only lasted 25 minutes and he spent most of the time talking about himself, it was a big fat waste."
-Posted 10/28/2003 |
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"How would I go about bringing in preventive medical practices to the country (I write about how I want to go into preventive medicine in my application)."
-Posted 10/10/2003 |
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"I was only asked one question: "What would you contribute to Columbia and how does that make you different from everyone else I will interview today?", but we talked a lot about my response."
-Posted 05/30/2003 |
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"Nothing too interesting. The interviewer didn't ask the really cliched questions (e.g. "Tell me about yourself"), but his questions were pretty straightforward."
-Posted 09/18/2002 |
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"We talked about almost everything in my application....he asked very, very specific questions about my research (I was a graduate student so I had lots of research experience) he was also knew my research very well (luck of the draw) but didn't let me know this until later-"
-Posted 07/26/2002 |
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"Its been a long time. I remember the interview was very laid back. The doctor who interviewed me was extremely impressive (taught at Harvard Medical School and currently does joint teaching with Oxford), but also very nice and considerate. He mainly asked questions about my experiences noted on the application. It was my first interview anywhere and ultimately my best because he focused on my life and my motivations for medicine, and did not try to stump or put me on the spot."
-Posted 07/14/2002 |
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"my interviewer was a very interesting woman. we immediately started talking about the things we had in common (she had read my file and started the conversation down this direction.) we had a very involved conversation about my essay, which touched on a difficult medical situation in my family. we also talked about my research. we talked about books and sports. the conversation felt more like a chat with an adult family friend. i felt completely at ease. granted, she was a psychologist, so that might have been the point. either way i wound up getting in and am absolutely going there this fall. "
-Posted 07/10/2002 |
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"My interviwer was Canadian so we got into a conversation about the Canadian health care system (which I am only slightly familiar with!)."
-Posted 06/14/2002 |
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How do you feel about the location of the school?

How is the cost of living (rent, food, bills, etc.)?

Are the elective rotations easy to obtain?

Response Avg

# Responders

6.33

3

0 = difficult, 10 = easy

Select Questions & Recent Responses

What do you like most about this school?

"Freedom! They trust us to know what benefits us individually and they don't micromanage our choices. I don't go to histology lab, but I do attend lecture. Other people love the small group sessions but prefer to watch lecture at double-speed and save a bunch of time. If I have a friend in town and I feel comfortable taking a day off, I take a day off. But I know exactly how I learn best, and I love that Columbia respects that. There's something for everyone.
The world-class lecturers don't hurt, either. It's pretty cool to suddenly realize that the place you know the current lecturer from is "The Colbert Report". Nobel prize winners lecture as well."
-Posted 10/08/2010 | Report Response

"Students get exposed to a lot of interesting pathology. Also, we get to rotate through hospitals in the surrounding area, not just in Washington Heights where the medical center is."
-Posted 02/12/2010 | Report Response

"New P/F curriculum that the current students seem to really enjoy. Deans/teachers work to get the students what they want. Tons of resources for student activities."
-Posted 01/29/2010 | Report Response

What do you like least about this school?

"The administration doesn't talk to each other. We occasionally have things scheduled at times that make no sense, and have to e-mail the administration to tell them that they're all conflicting with each other. It always gets sorted out in the end, but it's kind of silly."
-Posted 10/08/2010 | Report Response

"The school is not very flexible. Also, the Dean's office goes on and on about civility in the learning environment and the fact that it is not tolerated at Columbia. This is absolutely not true."
-Posted 02/12/2010 | Report Response

"The location within NYC is not optimal."
-Posted 01/29/2010 | Report Response

Please provide any other general comments on your school

"The extracurriculars and research opportunities here are awesome. The neighborhood isn't as bad as people will have you think - sure, it's not the upper east side, but you don't feel uncomfortable walking around at night unless you're in a dark alley alone, which is a bad idea in any city.
The accelerated curriculum (1.5 years pre-clinical) is something to keep in mind for non-science majors: you will have to play catch-up. The first block IS the catch-up, but while everyone else is taking it relatively easy, you'll be in crisis mode. Taking biochemistry or anatomy ahead of time is huge - even if you don't have any extra credits and only have time to look over a biochem review book during the summer, I think that would be helpful. Once the first unit is done, you're on the same basic level as everyone else."
-Posted 10/08/2010 | Report Response

"Columbia is a great school, but the administration doesn't really treat the students well."
-Posted 02/12/2010 | Report Response

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About the LizzyM Score

LizzyM, SDN Moderator and medical school admissions committee member, is the inventor of the LizzyM Score. The score allows you to see if you are a competitive applicant at a given school. If your LizzyM Score is far below or above the average, you may not be a good fit. If your score is far below, your application may be screened out due to numerical cutoffs. If it is far above, the school may assume they are your “safety” school and that you won’t attend if they offer an acceptance.
This score should be used only as a guide to help you select schools and is not a guarantee of acceptance at any school. If you use this as your sole criteria to select medical schools to apply to, you don’t deserve to get in anyway.